What is that word?

[Mr Larrington]

'Walled garden.'

Whether it's a bad thing depend on your perspective. At least with a wall you don't have to worry about local drunk taking a dump in your flower bed on his way home from the pub.

We build the wall to keep us free

[ian]

To be honest, I've never really understood it – you can run whatever apps and use whatever devices you want, there's no actual restriction.

[Sea of vapours]

Not the word you're thinking of, I'm sure, but, used in the distinctly pejorative sense and not wholly appropriately, 'hegemony' is a good one. (Annoyingly, Appleophiles would probably like that though )

[T42]

'Co-prosperity Sphere' was the term favoured by Japan during their 1930s expansion.

[Kim]

To be honest, I've never really understood it – you can run whatever apps and use whatever devices you want, there's no actual restriction.

Of course there is.  Half the time if you want to use foo, you have to run it on a bar.  Such is the joy of standards.

If you can get everything you need to work in a baz ecosystem, then great.  Otherwise you have to expend time/brainpower/money mucking about with multiple platforms to get everything done.  How else could you explain the continued popularity of Microsoft Windows?  It's not like it's actually pleasant to use - its overwhelming advantage is that you can generally get the software you need to run on it, and most people only have enough fucks for learning a maximum of maybe two OSes.

[Jasmine]

Those are all used, but it’s not quite the one we are looking for... but very close to ecosystem.

I feel like I've dropped into a parallel universe. I'm at a loss as to why ecological terms would be transferred wholesale to apply to IT systems. To me, ecosystem is how biological and non-biological components of an environment interact with each other, with nutrient and energy cycling. I can't get me head around how that would apply in IT. But in the interests of looking for your word, close words to ecosystem would be habitat or biome. 

[rafletcher]

How about technosphere 

[spesh]

How about technosphere 

That's the disco balls at a warehouse rave.

[markcjagar]

sandbox

[mattc]

Those are all used, but it’s not quite the one we are looking for... but very close to ecosystem.

I feel like I've dropped into a parallel universe. I'm at a loss as to why ecological terms would be transferred wholesale to apply to IT systems. To me, ecosystem is how biological and non-biological components of an environment interact with each other, with nutrient and energy cycling.

I think the idea is that products from this manufacturer have now become a sprawling, inter-dependent set of components that interact via various signals/nutrients, and once immersed in them, one can ignore all things outside the sphere!

[Kim]

Like most IT terms that aren't acronyms, it's a metaphor.  Naming things is, after all, one of the two hard problems^[1] in computer science.


_{[1] The others being cache invalidation and off-by-one errors.}

[Mr Larrington]

Paradigm?  Take two before breakfast to ensure luscious hair, financial contentment and a cold wet nose.

[spesh]

Paradigm?

ObligDilbert: https://dilbert.com/search_results?terms=paradigm

(Some of the strips cry out for cross-posting to the management BS bingo thread.  )

[Nuncio]

Not the word you're thinking of, I'm sure, but, used in the distinctly pejorative sense and not wholly appropriately, 'hegemony' is a good one. (Annoyingly, Appleophiles would probably like that though )

Ooh! Thanks. That was the word I was trying to think of when trying to get to the word Auntie Helen was trying to think of, knowing that it probably wasn't quite right, but was nearer than 'behemoth' and 'monolith'.

[ElyDave]

Paradigm?  Take two before breakfast to ensure luscious hair, financial contentment and a cold wet nose.

OI! I said that on page 1

[T42]

Hegemony?

[Kim]

Hegemony?

I think that one only applies when it's Microsoft

[Ham]

Isn't hege money what ESL earns from time to time?

[Jurek]

Isn't hege money what ESL earns from time to time?

Your coat awaits you.